Restoration
Quarterly 23 (1980): 232-38.
Copyright ©
1980 the Restoration Quarterly, cited with permission,
The Tree of Life
PAUL
WATSON
Institute for Christian Studies
In the Genesis account of the origins of
humanity, a "tree of life" is
found growing in the garden of Eden both when man is
placed there
(Gen. 2:9) and when he is driven out (Gen.
3:22-24).
Along with so
many other figures in the narrative--the great
river, the serpent, the
cherubim and flaming sword, and of course the
other tree ("the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil")--this
tree of life intrigues us and
leads us to ask a number of questions: What exactly
is it? How does
it fit into the larger story of Genesis 2-3? Did
Adam and Eve have
access to it before they were expelled from
to the tree after their departure?
The scope of this exegesis precludes a
consideration of the Creation
and Fall in any detail. It is hoped that this more
limited investigation
of one particular motif in that story will
contribute to an understanding
and appropriation of the whole.
Historical Background and Development
As commentaries uniformly note, the concept of
life-giving substances
used by both gods and mortals is found throughout
the ancient world.
The
"tree of life" is one such substance. Similar substances include
other types of plants; bread; and water.1
Outside the Fertile Crescent
one finds in the mythology of
deities obtain a life-giving drink called
"soma" in Sanskrit. From
Within
associated with a sacred tree.
1 B. Childs, "Tree of Knowledge, Tree of Life," IDB 4 (1962), 695. Cf. H. Ringgren,
Religions of the Ancient
Near East (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1973), p. 108.
232
Watson: The Tree of Life 233
Hathor and Nut dwelt in the great tree of heaven
and supplied the souls of
the dead with celestial food, while Nut appears in a
vignette of the Book of
the Dead in a sycamore. The
olive-tree was the abode of Horus and the
date-palm that of Nut designed on
a Nineteenth Dynasty relief with human
arms and breasts holding a jar
from which two streams of water emerge and
a tray of food.2
In
Sumerian mythology the gishkin tree
in the
"may well represent a tree of life."3 As for
the Babylonian and
Assyrian
literature,
Strangely enough the term "the tree of
life" does not occur in any Akkadian
text . . . . On the other
hand, pictorial representations are found of the king
carrying out certain rites with
a stylized tree, which in modern literature on
the subject is often
described as the tree of life.4
However,
if no tree of life per se is found in
the literature, notice
should be taken both of the Gilgamesh epic and the
Adapa creation
myth.
In the latter story Adapa, following the orders
of his father Ea,
unwittingly refuses the "bread of death"
and "water of death"
offered to him by the gatekeepers of heaven, not
knowing that had
he accepted their offer he would thereby have
gained immortality. The
epic of Gilgamesh is even more instructive. In it
the Noah-like figure
Utnapishtim
tells Gilgamesh of a magical, life-renewing plant at the
bottom of the sea and says, "If thy hands obtain
the plant (thou wilt
find new life)." Gilgamesh does a bit of
deep-sea diving, secures the
plant, and tells Urshanabi, his boatman, "Its
name shall be `Man
Becomes Young in Old Age.' I myself shall eat (it)
and thus return to
the state of my youth." Gilgamesh's plans are
thwarted, however, by a
serpent(!) who steals the plant while Gilgamesh
is taking a bath.6
Thus the concept of a life-giving tree in the garden of Eden would
not have been strange at all to
2 E. O. James, The Tree of Life (Leiden: E. J. Brill,
1966), p. 41.
3 So Childs, p. 695. Geo.
Widengren (The King and the Tree of Life
in Ancient Near
Eastern Religion [
1951]
6) says, "That this kiskanu-tree,
in the Sumerian text gis-kin, is
identical with
the tree of life is perfectly clear."
4 Ringgren,
pp. 78, 79. So also Childs, p. 695. For
examples of the art, see
Widengren,
pp. 61-63.
5 See the translation by E. A. Speiser
in Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to
the
Old Testament, edited by J. B.
Pritchard, (2nd ed.; Princeton:
1955) pp. 101, 102.
6
Again the translation is by Speiser, in Pritchard, ANET, p. 96.
234 Restoration
Quarterly
she lived. What is a bit surprising is the fact
that relatively few
subsequent references to the tree of life are found
in the Bible. Four
times it appears in Proverbs (3:18, 11:30, 13:12, and
15:4); and many
scholars think the prophet Ezekiel at least
alludes to the tree of life in
such passages as Ezekiel 31:3-9 and 47:12. Beginning
with Nebu-
chadnezzar's dream in Daniel
4:10-12, there is a growing use of the
tree-of-life motif in the
apocalyptic literature, as evidenced by such
passages as 1 Enoch 24:4; 2 Enoch 8:3, 5, 8; 9:1;
2 Esdras 8:52;
and T. 12 Patriarch 18:10-14. Christian apocalyptic
also utilizes the
motif, as illustrated by the four references to the
tree of life in the
book of Revelation (2:7 and 22:2, 14, 19).
Literary Considerations
Having established the fact that the concept of
a life-giving tree was
quite plausible to
in Genesis 2-3 in which the tree is mentioned.7
In the first passage
(Gen.
2:9) we find trees, trees, and more trees:
And out of the ground God Yahweh caused to grow various trees that
were a delight to the eye and good for eating, with the tree of life in
the middle of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and bad.8
The
concluding verses of the narrative (Gen. 3:22-24) focus only on
the tree of life:
And God Yahweh said, "Now that the man has
become like one of us in
discerning good from bad, what if
he should put out his hand and taste also
of the tree of life and eat, and live forever!" So God Yahweh banished him
from the garden of
expelled the man, he stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim
and the fiery revolving sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
Even
at a glance both passages present us with problems. (1) The
syntax of Genesis 2:9 is very awkward, suggesting to
some commentators
either that the original text mentioned only one tree,9
or that we are
dealing with two originally separate accounts,
each having a different
7 I regret that I did not have access to
J. L. McKenzie, "The Literary Characteristics
of Genesis 2-3," TS 15 (1954) 541-572.
8 The translations of both Gen.
2:9 and 3:22-24 are those of E. A. Speiser as found
in Genesis (AB 1; Garden City: Doubleday, 1964)
14, 23.
9 Speiser,
20.
Watson: The Tree of Life 235
tree.10 (The syntax of the phrase "and (the) tree
of the-to-know good
and bad" and the vexed question of what this
"knowledge of good
and
bad" in fact was cannot be considered here.)11 (2) The syntax of
Genesis
3:22 is also more difficult than Speiser's rendering of it would
indicate.12 Furthermore, verses 23 and 24 are
taken by some to be a
doublet, thus giving another indication of more
than one source.13
(3)
The very fact that the tree of life is introduced in Genesis 2:9 and
not mentioned again until Genesis 3:22-24 seems
strange. It is the other
tree-the tree of knowledge-that is at the heart of
the story (Gen.
2:17,
3:5, 6).14
What are we to make of all this? Do we in fact
have two originally
separate accounts now rather clumsily glued
together? More recent
scholarship generally agrees that this is not the
case:
It is recognized today that the architectonic
structure of the pentateuchal
narratives, and particularly of
Genesis, cannot be the result of chance or of
a 'scissors-and-paste' method of compilation, but represents a religious
and literary achievement of the highest order.15
If,
then, the narrative is to be considered in its present integrity, how
are we to hear it? What is being said about the
origins of humanity;
and precisely how does the tree of life fit into
the story?
The key to the interpretation of the story lies
in taking Genesis 2:9
as the conclusion to the larger unit of verses
4b-9. In this unit we are
told that man became a living being when he was
formed by God from
the earth and when God breathed his own life-giving
breath into man.
Thus
the ultimate source of life for man was God.
10 G. von
Rad, Genesis (OTL 1; Philadelphia:
Westminster, 1961) 76-77. Cf. J.
Skinner, Genesis
(ICC 1; 2d ed.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clar, 1930) 52-53, 58; and C. A.
Simpson, "Genesis," IDB 1 (1952) 496.
11 For a convenient summary of
the various interpretations of the phrase "good and
evil", see Childs, 696. Significant recent ,articles are by B. Reicke, "The Knowledge
Hidden
in the Tree of
of Good and Evil in the OT and the
12 See the comments by
Speiser, 24, on the words rendered in the RSV "Behold"
(Heb
hen) and "and now" (Heb we`atta).
13 Thus Skinner, 88-89. On the cherubim and
flaming sword, see Speiser, 24-25, and
von Rad, 94-95.
14 Indeed, the tree of knowledge is said to
be "in the middle of the garden" in
Gen.
3:3; but it is the tree of life that is "in the middle of the garden"
in
Gen.
2:9.
15 Gordis, 129. Cf. also Childs, 696.
236 Restoration
Quarterly
Having
given man life, God next gives man an environment-a
garden (more nearly a park) filled with trees, at a
time when the rest
of the earth had neither plants nor herbs (Gen.
2:5). And we are told
specifically that two trees-one of
life, the other of knowledge-are
included in this
After inserting a geographical interlude dealing
with the great river
which watered
world, the narrator quickly returns to his main theme
and focuses
attention on the last tree mentioned in Genesis
2:9, namely, the tree of
knowledge. Of every other tree in the garden man
may freely eat; but
of this one he may not, on penalty of death. Verse
17 leaves the
narrator's listeners asking themselves, "What
will man do? Will he eat
of that tree or not? Will he obey or
disobey?"
The answer is postponed until a new theme can be
introduced, that
of woman as a partner for man (Gen. 2:18-25). With
Genesis 3 both
strands of the narrative are picked up and woven
together in the story
of the Fall. And in the middle of both the story
and the garden stands
the tree of knowledge. It stands for the tragic
disobedience of both
man and woman; it is a mute witness of their
unfaith.
But the narrator has not forgotten (nor, one
would suspect, has his
audience) the other tree, the tree of life. Can
disobedient man remain
in the garden and still live forever by eating of
its fruit, thus escaping
his sentence of death? By no
means. Man should not have eaten of
the tree of knowledge; now he cannot eat of the
tree of life. He is
banished--absolutely, permanently--from
Thus the narrative functions as a harmonious
whole: Of all the
trees in the garden, two are singled out for special
notice. One becomes
the symbol of the decisive choice man must make in
response to the
divine command. Once man makes his decision, the other
tree becomes
the symbol of all man's shattered aspirations, his
dreams of what
might have been, forever in his memory but always out
of his reach.
Theological Significance
We may introduce our final considerations of the
tree of life and
how it functions theologically in Genesis 2 and 3
with this question: If
Adam
and Eve had access to the tree while they were still in the
Garden,
and, if they had eaten of it, would it not have been too late
for God to cast them out? Would they not already be
immortal?
Some
have taken the position that eating of the tree of life was not
a once-for-all event, but rather a matter of
regular eating. This
interpretation, which cites many
parallels in comparative religions,
Watson: The Tree of Life 237
takes the Hebrew word gam in Genesis 3:22 as "again" rather than
"also." But such an interpretation misses the urgency of
verse 22 and
the decisiveness of verse 24. Whatever logical
difficulties it may present
to the modern reader, the clear implication of
verse 22 is that man
has in some sense already become like God by having
eaten of the tree
of knowledge. But of the tree of life he has not
eaten; nor will he eat.
How then are we to understand God's act of
denying man access to
this tree? One interpretation suggests that God was,
in effect, doing
man a favor, since eternal life coupled with a
knowledge of good and
evil would be intolerable.16 However, the clear implication of
verses 22-24 is that a punishment is being carried out
and not that a
favor is being shown.17 Another interpretation suggests that the tree
of
life somehow represents a false substitute for the
genuine life offered
by God and defined as a harmonious coexistence
with him.18 But
again, the tree of life as it first appears in
Genesis 2:9 does not seem to
be a mythical and ultimately unsatisfactory
substitute for real life,
but rather the symbol of it.
As has been observed,
Genesis 2:4-9 pulsates with life itself. God
creates man and infuses him with life. God then
prepares the perfect
environment for life in the form of a beautiful park
at the very center
of which is nothing less than the tree of life.
Man may thus anticipate
living indefinitely, with God, in
But is man willing to live such a life in such a
place on God's terms?
That
is the unavoidable question put to man in the form of the tree
of knowledge and God's restriction concerning it.
To his everlasting
regret, man is not content with God's arrangements and
must have
"knowledge." "Knowledge" man acquires; but in
the process he loses
"life."
At this point some of the observations of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer seem
particularly cogent. In commenting
on Genesis 3:22-24, he says,
The whole story finally comes to a climax in
these verses. The significance
of the tree of life, of
which so remarkably little had been said earlier, is only
really comprehensible here.
Indeed, it is now obvious that the whole story
has really been about this
tree. . . . Adam only reaches out for the fruit of
the tree of life after he
16 J. Willis, Genesis (Living Word Commentary; Austin: Sweet, 1979) 135-136.
17 Von Rad, 98, says: "All in all, it
(the narrative) closes in profound sadness."
18 B. Childs, 696-697.
238 Restoration
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has fallen prey to
death.... Adam has eaten of the tree of knowledge, but the
thirst for the tree of life,
which this fruit has given him, remains
unquenched. . . . The tree of life
is guarded by the power of death; it
remains untouchable, divinely unapproachable.
But Adam's life before the
gate is a continuous attack
upon the realm from which he is excluded. It is a
flight and a search upon the
cursed ground to find what he has lost, and
then a repeated, desperate
rage against the power with the flaming sword.
That this sword of the guard cuts, that it is sharp--this
the biblical writer
says, not without reason;
Adam knows this, he feels it himself time and
again: but the gate remains
shut.19
As dismal as the concluding verses of Genesis 3
are, however, they
are not the final word of God. Even before they are
separated from the
tree of life, Adam and Eve anticipate the
procreation and thus the
continuation of human life; and God
himself provides for them the
clothes they will need outside the Garden (Gen.
3:20, 21). Try as he
will, Adam cannot regain access to life on his own;
witness the
pathetic efforts of Adam's descendants at the
(Gen. 11:1-9). But God, who provided
life initially and who sponsors
the continuation of that life even if it is now
life-in-death, can and
will himself bring man back to life--life that is
once more abundant
(John 10:10) and eternal (John 3:16). Man shall in fact have
access to
the tree of life once again, not by overcoming the
cherubim who guard
it but by being allowed to share in heaven's
victory over death:
To him who is victorious I will give the right
to eat from the tree of life that
stands in the
clean! They
will have the right to the tree of life ..." (Rev. 2:7; 22:14).
19 D. Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall (London: SCM, 1966) 89-92.
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